


The Fisherman

by MamaLunar



Series: The Fisherman [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-11 12:52:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7893178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaLunar/pseuds/MamaLunar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A string of kidnappings suddenly turns sour when the head of a young girl is found. Mariku Ishtar is listed as the killer, but is that really all there is to it? Atem must play his grey game and put all the pieces back together or risk losing the case altogether.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shadow Game

If Mokuba Kaiba had never gone missing, it's likely no one would know about the kidnappings. The poor boy had been gone for weeks, meaning his affluent brother was causing a fuss with the police and in the media. Atem couldn't even count the number of times he'd had to defuse some situation or another with Seto. Not that anyone really blamed the man, losing a family member to something potentially devastating...

At least Atem knew how bad this could get. His partner, Jounochi, was the other party affected. His sister went missing and the case was a minor missing persons that quickly changed into a kidnapping and from there it only got worse. Only days ago they found her disembodied head at a playground near the station. Her eyes were missing along with her tongue and teeth, the amount of blood left behind was almost unreasonable, and was the first sign that the killer was sending them a message. Jounochi had been all but unreachable ever since.

It had been a good month since Mokuba had gone missing and everyone was beginning to fear the worst, keeping an eye on the area around the police station for more body parts. So far, none had popped up.

Then finally they had a break in the case. Someone who had seen the broadcast of the car that had been caught in security footage spoke up and when police got there, evidence of Shizuka Kawai's untimely death had been discovered in the basement. Fingers and the teeth that had been missing were sitting in bags along with a few other body parts... but even then some of them were missing, and the matter of Mokuba Kaiba was unsolved, not a single trace of the boy was found. Even still, they arrested the owner of the home, assuming he'd disposed of body parts and perhaps that Mokuba's case was entirely unrelated.

Mariku Ishtar had a history of mental illness and within minutes of speaking with him, Atem had no doubt he was completely off his rocker. The man had a perpetual grin, like he held some kind of secret, like this entire thing was nothing to him. He stared through you, reducing his conversation partner to nothing but a mass breaking up the air. His voice was enough to send chills down your spine.

But Atem wouldn't be broken so easily. He sat in that chair, waiting silently for what felt like hours for the crazed man to speak. When nothing came of his patience, he had to work up his own nerve to talk.

"What made you choose Shizuka Kawai?"

Without missing a beat, Mariku replied. "I didn't."

"You can't possibly be trying to deny you killed her, after what we found there's no chance you'll go free."

"Oh, I'm not denying anything. In fact I already know I've lost this game."

"So why can't you answer the question?"

"I did."

Atem had to refrain from giving him an incredulous look. They'd already decided he was crazy. Maybe that's why he answered to cryptically.

"Alright, then what led you to kill her?" He tried, sitting back in his seat and nearly scowling when Mariku made the same move.

"Why do you question me? Why do you come into work everyday? Because it is fun and it's your job." He replied, that same cheshire grin spread ear to ear.

"You think this is your job?"

"Job, calling... however you phrase it, it's what I'm good at."

"You've had no previous record of murder before."

"Not of people, no."

Ah, so he's a classic example of a serial killer then. The kind that torments animals and slaughters things smaller than him for the rush of power. For some reason that seemed like such a cop out.

"You're already caught, looking at a life sentence or worse... what aren't you telling me?" Atem leaned forward, finally taking notice that his posture wasn't the only thing Mariku mimicked, it was his every move. Atem's body went cold, despite the cuffs keeping this psycho secured, Atem did not feel safe.

"Oh, no no no. I'm not going to ruin the game. I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon enough, of course whether or not you'll be too late is yet to be seen."

"What game?! What good does this do you?"

"It's fun."

Atem had enough of this crazy fuck, he got out of his seat. He'd already gotten all he could out of him and he doubted Mariku would start making sense anytime soon. He could already hear the low rumble of a chuckle as he left the room, heading back for his desk.

Jou would want to know. Whether or not it was allowed, and regardless of if Mariku's apparent madness would make him feel better or worse, he had an obligation as his friend to tell him.

The young officer hardly left his house anymore, with a life already very rough it was unfair that he was the one to lose someone. All Atem could do now was be there for him, and he rang the doorbell with slight hesitation. Was he really up for this? He didn't have the option not to be.

The door opened, blocked by a chain. Atem saw Jou's tired eyes for a fraction of a second before the door closed and the click of the chain sent a wave of relief through Atem's body.

"Come in..." Jou mumbled, standing aside for Atem.

His eyes had the darkest rings around them, bloodshot as well, and slightly puffy from tears Jou wouldn't admit he'd shed. While he didn't exactly look malnourished, maybe it was the deep depression that made his face appear gaunt.

Atem kicked his shoes off and dared to give his friend a hug, contact that he knew the other wasn't really up for but he felt it necessary to prep him with that kind of tenderness. He waited a moment, and when it was clear Jou wasn't going to return the hug, he stepped back and looked up.

"We got him. Without a doubt, we got her killer."

The slow growing light that built up in his face was worth it. He wasn't going to all out sob, but Jou did have a few tears roll down his face. It didn't bring her back but at least there was some justice brought to the situation.

"Did you catch him?" Jou asked, taking a moment to calm himself.

"I did. It was the car, someone recognized it and reported him. She was... she was still there, it's because of that that he got arrested."

"It's absolutely disgusting. What kind of fucked up..."

"He's mentally unstable. He probably doesn't understand just how wrong it is. Not that I'm defending him or anything."

"Mental or not, I'm glad he's going down." Jou paused, and then continued with a sort of stammered "Ah...what about the Kaiba kid?"

"You know, we never found any sign of him. I guess he's part of something different." Atem shrugged. He looked around at the conditions in the house. It looked like Jou really hadn't been taking care of himself. Mail was scattered on the floor and the kitchen was a disaster.

Stooping to pick up the mail that had collected over the time Jou had spent grieving, he flashed a smile and suggest Jou get them both something to drink. He'd clean up the kitchen himself. It was the least he could do.

And then one of the envelopes in his hand caught his eye, it was unaddressed, both to the house and from. Like a birthday card, with only 'Katsuya Jounochi' printed in Times New Roman. Whoever it was went to great lengths to make sure they couldn't be traced. Atem felt himself go cold though. If there was no address printed on it, that meant whoever put it there had come up and delivered it themselves. Fingers numb, Atem peeled the envelope open, the tearing of the seal deafening. He felt his mouth dry up when popping the envelope open and pulling its contents out. Several polaroid pictures and a folded letter dumped into his hand.

Atem sat the stack of mail down, choosing to focus on the strange mail and his breath caught at the sight of the pictures in hand.

They had been paperclipped together, so the one sitting on top was a very terrified image of Jounochi's sister. The poor girl had been stripped down entirely, sitting in her own feces for fuck knows how long. Her arms were bound over her head and her mouth stuffed with something, though he couldn't tell exactly what, it appeared at least to be a fabric of some kind. The second image was a bloody one, a close up of her face, riddled with tears, there was only one light source and it seemed to him that the flash of the camera was it. Either there was no light in this place, or there was only dim lighting. She was covered in scratches and cuts, but when they found the head, these wounds had almost disappeared. The third was where things got really bad, a gloved hand ran a knife through her eye, the image of pain and terror captured on her face was not one he'd forget, bile on her chin and her face twisted into a scream, captured by the sick fuck who had her. The other eye was already missing, blood almost entirely covered her face. The fourth was another full body, but her arms were missing, whether or not she was still alive was not something he was able to determine. The fifth showed the torso without any of its limbs, the head was on the floor, still in that mess of blood and human waste.

"What're you doing?" Jou called from the kitchen. "Don't just loiter in the entrance all night!"

"A-ah sorry!" He quickly shoved the images and letter in his pocket. He'd read it later and now he had more to add to the file. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to tell this to Jou, but for now he'd pretend he was entirely okay. After all, it was over now right?


	2. Face Down

_When I first chose Shizuka, I was passing by her home. She had been jump roping when she saw me and waved. I asked her what her name was and she was more than happy to tell me. The conversation we had didn’t last long but it was enough for me to decide she’d be the perfect victim. See I have a sister of my own, and long have I been tormented with her soft flesh so close to me, just dying to be cut into. It would be terrible for me to waste her. I wanted to hone my skills and Shizuka was the perfect match._

_Within the week she trusted me, such a naive girl, and it was all too easy to convince her to come get ice cream with me. I didn’t bring a car, we walked, and once we had finished our ice cream I told her I had a present for her. Naturally she was so excited that she didn’t even think about it. Once I took her to my friend’s home, that was all she wrote._

_I trust you don’t need me to write you the details, since a picture’s worth a thousand words, have these pictures. They detail her final moments._

_Of course the story doesn’t end there. My desires run deeper than just slicing her up. Oh no, once she was dead, I roasted her up, she was so sweet. Don’t worry, though, I’m no monster. I didn’t rape the poor thing, her purity remained in tact the whole time. But she tasted so so good._

Atem had read over and over the letter, wincing in disgust. If anything it solidified that Mariku wasn’t alone, and that when he’d said he hadn’t chosen Shizuka, he wasn’t lying. The other killer wasn’t someone Shizuka knew right off the bat, so that ruled out friends and family... assuming this letter wasn’t a lie.

The pictures, while disgusting and hard to look at, were dissected as much as possible with no conclusive findings. After trying to make something of these, with help from coworkers, the one thing people agreed on was looking at ice cream shops within the area around Mrs. Kawai’s home.

With about three locations that were most likely, Atem set out, questioning those who worked at the locations, but each time he got the same answers.

“I don’t remember seeing a little girl who looks like that.”

With the ice cream locations ruled out, Atem had no choice. He’d have to confront Mariku. A shiver ran down his spine, a reminder of the feeling he got talking to the bastard. Something about him was just not right, Atem had never been so completely terrified by a criminal... Even standing outside the room he’d had set up for their meeting, Atem wanted to turn around and go. It was like he could feel Mariku’s eyes staring through the door at him, and sure enough, Mariku was staring dead on at him when the doors parted.

“The Pawn returns.” Mariku chuckled, the hollow sound was enough to break Atem’s gaze away. The psychopath grinned ear to ear in response. “I have a feeling I know why.”

Atem made no comment back and just took a seat, again their game of mimic began and every motion was reflected back to him on the body of someone insane. After setting his pen and notepad on the table, he cleared his throat, attempting to drown out nerves.

“So you cannibalized a young girl.” Atem dared to look up at the other finally, catching his eye. Violet stared into his soul like a drill bit making its way deeper into his flesh, painful and jarring.

“Oh heavens no! I’m messed up but there’s a line even I won’t cross.”

That answer alone was almost enough to set Atem’s fears of another killer in motion once more. “So you had an accomplice who did?”

“Detective, I didn’t have an accomplice. I was the accomplice.” Teeth bared again in that disgusting grin.

Atem swallowed, masking it by looking down and scribbling in his notepad. “And he’s the one who cannibalized Shizuka? Why? He already killed her.”

Mariku’s laughter this time was far more than a chuckle, it was a full blown cackle of amusement. It shook Atem to his core, his blood running cold with each word and gafaw that left the man in chains across from him.

Once Mariku had settled down, he leaned forward, independant of Atem’s movements, getting as close as he could. Instinctively Atem leaned away, almost afraid he’d get bitten. Mariku breathed out a long breath and licked his lips, uttering a sentence Atem never even thought he’d hear.

“His intent from the beginning was to eat her.”

Atem’s phone rang, causing him to jump and Mariku to laugh at him in response. Fumbling to get his phone, the number calling him was Honda’s cell. The detective jumped to answer, anything to pull him away from the madman who only wanted to play games with children’s lives.

“Honda, what is it, I’m bus--” Atem was cut off abruptly.

“Someone has a lead on your case! He wants to talk to you right now hurry up and get back here.”

“A-ah, I’m on my way.” He didn’t waste a single precious second gathering his things.

“Oh, Detective?” Mariku sang at him. Atem could feel the smirk on his neck. “You’re running out of time.”

The doors smacked their frame as Atem left, not once looking back.

As promised, there was a man waiting in the station for him. He was visibly shaken and hoisted a big bag up onto his shoulder, preventing it from falling on the floor. When he saw Atem he only got even more shaken up.

“Y-you! I need to give you something.” The man stammered.

“I came back as soon as I heard.” Atem nodded, frowning at the man’s visible panic. He was sweating profusely and had a foul odor about him. “I’m Detective Atem Mutou, how can I help you mister...?”

“R-Ryuuji Otogi.” He looks around, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out something is very wrong. “H-here.” Almost forcefully he shoves the duffle bag into Atem’s arms and it hits him that the smell isn’t the man in front of him... but the navy bag he’d been given.

“Alright Otogi, what’s going on? What’s in the bag?”

“H-he told me to bring it!” Confronted, the young adult started to lose whatever composure he had left. “He told me if I didn’t he’d kill my family! He said he put a bomb in my home!”

“Calm down!” Atem tried speaking calmer. “You’re not in trouble, just tell me what’s in the bag.”

“It’s... oh god...” He covered his mouth.

Atem wasn’t going to wait anymore, people were staring, and he was worried about the contents. With the hint of a disgusting smell and the hysterics, Atem ripped the zipper open. Bursting forth from the bag was the putrid smell of blood, peering inside was enough to have Atem drop the bag, shaking so hard he couldn’t breathe.

The duffle hit the ground with a thud, and rolling out of the interior was the head of Mokuba Kaiba.


	3. The Wells'

Within days the death of Mokuba Kaiba was all anyone could talk about. The gruesome way it had been carried out, the high profile client, the knowledge that it was indeed a serial killer on the loose… Seto Kaiba had yet to make a public appearance or make any statements on the matter but he’d been absolutely certain to tell the police department how incompetent they’d been… multiple times. The station was now instructed to not take calls from Kaiba Corp.

Atem was frazzled, the whole ordeal was a PR nightmare. The media frenzy that surrounded the incident had started ambushing Jou outside his home, the poor man couldn’t even grieve in peace.

Once more he’d have to discuss things with Mariku… talking with that psycho made things difficult. He liked riddles and didn’t seem to care that his sentence would just get worse and worse the longer he strung his little game along.

Atem filed into the room, Mariku had been staring at the door, waiting for him to enter. Atem took his seat, ignoring the disgusting grin that Mariku wore, Atem swore if he could, Mariku’d have filed his teeth into points just to be more intimidating. The air was cold, thick, and he could hear his own heartbeat. He prayed Mariku couldn’t…

“Well, Mr. Pawn… I hear you found Mokuba Kaiba.” Mariku’s eerie, silky voice broke the silence.

“How far in advance did you and your friend plan this?” Atem asked, not looking up from the case file. Honestly there wasn’t anything in there he hadn’t memorized but he’d do anything to avoid locking eyes with Mariku. The man looked dead inside, like his gaze could burrow into your soul… and the way he mimicked Atem’s movements made him seem doll-like and inhuman.

“Pretty far, though I’m a new addition to his little plan. He’s been killing a lot longer than I’ve been with him.” Mariku snickered. “His game is almost up.”

“Is there a reason he’s killed so much then? A reason for all this?” Atem glanced over, watching Mariku’s fingers drum against the table, his handcuffs clinking gently.

“There is, though I’m not sure you’d consider it much of a motive, Mr. Pawn.”

“Humor me.” Atem retorted, making the mistake of locking eyes with the psychotic individual across from him.

Deep violet eyes stared him down, hiding a secret behind them. He knew everything Atem wanted to know, and he wanted Atem to know that he knew. It was blood chilling, sinister, and sent shivers down the detective’s spine… his gaze was honestly the most terrifying thing Atem had experienced in the entirety of his career.

“He’s learning how to cook them properly.”

That caught Atem’s attention. “So there’s someone specific he wants to kill then… someone he’s honing his skills for.”

“Smart man! And he’s almost ready… I’d hurry if I were you. Once he finishes his spree, you won’t find him.”

“You’re not doing yourself any favors, you know, you might spare your life if you tell me who your partner is.” Atem tried again, standing.

“If I cared about life and death, I wouldn’t be a murderer.” Mariku’s grin widened, watching the detective as he left the room.

Xxx

Calls came from everywhere, claiming to know the killer, have seen him, have leads, but there wasn’t a single hint of info that hadn’t been already leaked to the public. Atem sighed, rubbing his face while he read over report after report, trying to find some slip up… every criminal made a mistake, he just had to find it.

The door to his office was cracked, in case someone needed him, he could respond. The usual bustle outside his door could be heard but he hadn’t been expecting a knock on his ajar door. Atem looked up, seeing a pair of twins nudge the door open, one of them was in tears, the other seemed to be taking the role of comforter. They were rather exotic boys, white hair, pale skin, eyes that entranced and intimidated…

“I-I’m sorry to bother you, they said you were the one to talk to about the missing children case?” The first one sniffled.

“A-ah yes, come in. How can I help you?” Atem stood to greet them, frowning as the comforter guided his brother to one of the seats.

“My name is Ryou Wells, th-this is my brother Bakura. O-our kid sister, Amane, she’s missing…”

Atem wasn’t sure if he could tie the two cases together but he’d at least hear them out. “How old?”

“A-ah… ten.” Ryou sniffed. “Last seen in our yard, I left for ten minutes to get a glass of water and…”

Atem handed him a box of tissues. “Well she certainly falls into the age range… do you have any pictures?”

Bakura handed over a few school photos, she seemed like such a happy girl, eyes bright and innocent. Atem really felt for them, to have someone you loved just go missing like that… He could easily confront Mariku about it, get some insight as to which missing children might have been taken…

Atem made a few notes then looked back to the brothers. “Alright… did anyone see anything?”

“N-no. My brother was out at the time so it was just me, a-and our neighbors didn’t see anything as far as they could remember.” Ryou sniffled again, blowing his nose. He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes, poor boy hadn’t slept in days.

“When exactly did she go missing?” Atem asked.

“Y-yesterday, around 3pm. I thought maybe she might have just run off to play somewhere… but when she didn’t come back that evening I got scared.”

“Why didn’t you call sooner?” Atem frowned.

Bakura finally spoke, a lot more put together than Ryou. “I told him to call in the morning. Maybe I should have called sooner… I don’t know.”

Atem made a few more notes. He’d definitely be visiting Mariku again. He took their phone numbers and promised to look into things for them when he had time. Especially if this related to the case. Atem saw the two out.

Xxx

“Twice in one day, Pawn?” Mariku purred. “What do I owe the honor?”

Atem placed a bunch of pictures of various missing children down on the table. “Will you tell me which of these were his victims?”

“Oho! Now you’re asking good questions.” Mariku grinned, looking them over. He picked out a few, three other images now lined in a row… Rebecca Hawkins, Weevil Underwood, and Rex Raptor… they were from a few cities over, a few years back even, remains never found. Atem made a few notes and turned his attention to Mariku just in time to watch him hesitate over the picture of Amane Wells.

He stared at her, eyes scanning the pictures before he grinned and slid her image down with them. Licking his lips with a tongue that was far too long to be natural, his eyes flicked back up to Atem’s.

“This game is almost over, detective. You’re losing.” Mariku’s laughter was wheezy and hard, shaking his shoulders with each little noise.

“She’s his final target?” Atem said, perhaps a bit too loudly. “Why her?”

“Look at her, detective. She’s a pretty little thing, has a very unique appearance to her doesn’t she? Soft looking skin… pretty little eyes… who wouldn’t pick her?”

Something about the way he said it made Atem sick to his stomach _. Who wouldn’t pick her?_ Atem got up wordlessly, taking his files and the pictures back and left Mariku in his fits of laughter once more.

He decided that’d be it for the day, he was nursing a massive headache, this whole thing was going to shorten his life by several years… with a sigh, he packed his things up and decided to head for the café down the street. He could really go for a coffee and an apple tart…

Heading in, he heard the familiar jingle of the bell, a friendly welcome, and the gentle noises of a relatively quiet coffee shop. After getting his order he took a seat, breathing in the smell. It was absolutely cathartic, like the problems of the world would fade away with a breath. Though the feeling was short lived, Atem felt eyes on him and quickly glanced around before a familiar mop of white hair caught his attention… piercing red eyes looked back at him.

“Bakura?” He muttered to himself.

After a moment the man got up and made his way over to the table Atem was at. “Mind if I take a seat?”

“I um… not at all go ahead.” The detective was caught completely off guard. “I-I’m sorry what are you doing here?”

“Ah, it’s a coincidence actually. Ryou took the bus home and I had some errands to run so I decided to get some coffee.” He laughed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Is there something you wanted to talk about then or… why did you come over here?” Straight to the point.

“Sorry, am I bothering you? I guess I just… need someone to talk to. Ryou’s fine and all but he’s so distraught all he can talk about is our sister. To be honest I’m not dealing with this well myself but I’d rather not stay depressed about it, you know?”

He’d seen people cope with tragedy this way before. Bottle it in, be strong for those around them, and push through by surrounding themselves with friendly faces… Atem felt bad for him, Bakura was really hurting beneath the protector façade.

“Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hang out a little bit.” Unprofessional as hell maybe, but Atem was a sucker for a sad face.

That seemed to change something in Bakura’s demeanor, he started being less formal, loosening up a bit. “How long have you been on the force for?”

“Oh gosh um… six years now?” Atem thought back. “Yeah about six. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than this honestly, I get to help people.”

“Well aren’t you just the noble stereotype?” Bakura teased. “The detective that wants to bring justice to the people… such a cliché.” Though the grin he wore said ‘that’s not such a bad thing’.

Atem huffed. “Oh yeah? What do you do then?”

“I’m a teacher’s assistant at Domino Junior High.” Bakura responded. “Got sick of kids being stupid, figured maybe I could teach them better myself. Though I won’t be a teacher just yet, still getting there.”

“Wow you are the epitome of selfless… you think the education system sucks so you think you can do a better job?” Atem snorted.

“I don’t think it. I know it.” Bakura smirked, taking a sip of his coffee. “Useless information just passes through one ear and out the other and they leave school thinking they wasted their time.”

“Control freak.”

“Film cliché.”

The two of them grinned, turning it into laughter at the other. Atem honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had so much fun conversing with a stranger like that. Bakura seemed to be better off too.

Bakura stood up, gathering his trash. “This was fun, detective, I’ll have to treat you to a real date sometime soon.” He winked, tossing his garbage in the bin.

Atem’s face lit up and he bolted upright, sputtering after Bakura. The man’s bluntness had completely caught him off guard. “Th-this wasn’t a date!”

Bakura just laughed, head tossed back as he did, leaving the shop and Atem just staring at the door. A couple nearby were giggling to themselves about it and once Atem was fully aware that people where whispering he sat back down.

What the hell had just happened?!


End file.
